Digital Commons Network^™

The Topology Of Surface Mediatrices, James Bernhard, J. J. P. Veerman

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Given a pair of distinct points p and q in a metric space with distance d, the mediatrix is the set of points x such that d(x,p)=d(x,q). In this paper, we examine the topological structure of mediatrices in connected, compact, closed 2-manifolds whose distance function is inherited from a Riemannian metric. We determine that such mediatrices are, up to homeomorphism, finite, closed simplicial 1-complexes with an even number of incipient edges emanating from each vertex. Using this and results from [J.J.P. Veerman, J. Bernhard, Minimally separating sets, mediatrices and Brillouin spaces, Topology Appl., in press], we give the classification …

In Tension, Alicia Ross

Theses

The conceptual subject matter of in_tension falls between two major categories: the personification of two conflicting female roles (the need to be a nurturer and the longing to be an object of sexual desire) and the amalgamation of biological and societal foundations in which we see ourselves and others. These two major categories are more principally bound by the larger schema of relations between the sexes and the molding of our desires through social conventions. My artwork tends to explore the conflict many women encounter—including myself—of which roles they wish to partake and the friction between the voyeur or the …

Assisting Small And Medium Enterprises Establish Procedures For Verification, Management Review And Continual Improvement Of Iso 14001, Parimala Anthony

Theses

This study addresses the issue of reaching small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with appropriate means to help them establish procedures for verification, management review and continual improvement in accordance to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) standard. The relative contribution of SMEs to the total industrial environmental impact is unknown, but it is likely to be considerable, given their contribution to total production and their dominance in sectors such as information technology, electronics, metals, printing, textiles etc. Therefore, the role of SMEs in protecting and improving the environment, through their production and marketing of environmental technologies (for energy efficiency, …

Anomaly-Based Botnet Detection For 10 Gb/S Networks, Jonathon Donaldson

Theses

Current network data rates have made it increasingly difficult for cyber security specialists to protect the information stored on private systems. Greater throughput not only allows for higher productivity, but also creates a “larger” security hole that may allow numerous malicious applications (e.g. bots) to enter a private network. Software-based intrusion detection/prevention systems are not fast enough for the massive amounts of traffic found on 1 Gb/s and 10 Gb/s networks to be fully effective. Consequently, businesses accept more risk and are forced to make a conscious trade-off between threat and performance. A solution that can handle a much broader …

Light Pollution: A Case For Federal Regulation, Timothy Berthaume

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the body of evidence concerning light pollution and exposure to artificial light and determine if the scientific research warrants regulatory oversight in the United States. The first question that guided this effort was: Does improper artificial lighting and exposure to light-at-night constitute a risk to human health and safety? The follow up question being: Is light pollution a concern to ecological systems, and if so to what extent? A comprehensive literature review was conducted to ascertain the status of the research—if any—in these two areas and what the findings were. The overarching …

Teaching Bayesian Model Comparision With The Three-Sided Coin, Scott R. Kuindersma, Brian S. Blais

Science and Technology Department Faculty Journal Articles

In the present work we introduce the problem of determining the probability that a rotating and bouncing cylinder (i.e. flipped coin) will land and come to rest on its edge. We present this problem and analysis as a practical, nontrivial example to introduce the reader to Bayesian model comparison. Several models are presented, each of which take into consideration different physical aspects of the problem and the relative effects on the edge landing probability. The Bayesian formulation of model comparison is then used to compare the models and their predictive agreement with data from hand-flipped cylinders of several sizes.

Kentucky Traffic Collision Facts 2007 Report, Kentucky Transportation Center, Kentucky State Police

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

KENTUCKY’S TRAFFIC COLLISION FACTS report for 2007 is based on collision reports submitted to the Kentucky State Police Records Branch. As required by Kentucky Revised Statutes 189.635, “every law enforcement agency whose officers investigate a vehicle accident of which a report must be made...shall file a report of the accident...within ten days after investigation of the accident upon forms supplied by the bureau.” The stated purpose of this requirement is to utilize data on traffic collisions for such purposes as will improve the traffic safety program in the Commonwealth. Data contained in this report are based solely on the observations …

A Workplace Design That Reduces Employee Stress And Increases Employee Productivity Using Environmentally Responsible Materials, Limor Gutnick

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In today’s competitive global environment, employee productivity is an essential element of a company’s success. Employee productivity can be significantly hindered by high levels of stress experienced in the work environment. In addition, poor indoor air quality contributes to deterioration of employee health and well-being, which further reduces productivity.

The object of this study was to explore interior design techniques that may reduce employee stress and enhance productivity while using environmentally responsible materials and furnishings. The design paradigm was qualitative, and the research method used was a case study. Specifically, this was an action-research project consisting of a design proposal …

A Study Of Corrugated Shelf-Ready Packaging (Srp) Appropriate To Colgate Palmolive Products, Emmanuel Boillon

Theses

At the time of this study, each time a customer in Europe requested that Colgate Palmolive (CP) implement a Shelf Ready Packaging (SRP) solution for a product, CP did not have the data and tools necessary to weigh the impact of the request. Since most retail stores in Europe use a high level of SRP, it was important for Colgate Palmolive to master this type of packaging. The challenge of this thesis project was to address this situation by developing a set of practical guidelines for use by CP packaging engineers when developing SRP packaging solutions that met retailers' requirements …

Live Load Stack Testing Of Corrugated Shipping Containers Filled With 12 Hdpe Quart Oil Bottles, Christopher Wemett

Theses

A study was conducted to choose a new resin for the BP Castro( bottle-making process. Four resins were tested using the standard 10-week stack test: ExxonMobil HY A30 I (the control),

Chevron Marlex 9512H, Dow DMDA 6200, and BP Solvay HPS0-25-155. The study focused on five possible defects: bent neck, pushed up base, creased side wall, pushed in bumper, and creased label panel. The goal was to find a resin that performed as well as or better than the control resin. The test required bottles to be made and quality-checked for conformance to specification. The bottles were then put into …

Student Perceptions Of The Shift From Soft Drink Vending Machines To Milk Vending Machines In Schools, Jillian B. Trapini

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Soft drink vending machines are available in many schools across the nation. Some schools have recently removed soft drink vending machines and replaced them with milk vending machines. The purpose of this study was to investigate high school students’ (n = 84) perceptions of the shift from soft drink vending machines to milk vending machines in schools.

Students in this survey had an understanding of the importance of drinking milk, and students generally felt that purchasing milk from the lunch line was more convenient than from the vending machine. Students felt that the vending machine might contain warm, out of …

A Redefined Feminine From Paleolithic To Twenty-First Century Through Children's Literature & Film, Pamela Dee Mccombs

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The intention of my critical discourse is to redefine the knowledge of the feminine that Western tradition, through “master narratives,” silenced, subverted, and deferred. My guidelines were drawn from the deconstruction of philosophical works by Jacques Derrida and redefined the unique circle of “Being and beings” to be not just God and man, but God, Goddess, and Human, the Goddess being the original feminine. I discovered the feminine beginning, through archaeomythologists Gimbutas, Dever, and Davis-Kimball, with the unearthing of female figurines, temple models, and warrior priestesses. I found examples of the feminine survival through the Dark Ages in Lithuanian Dainos …

Influence Of Physical Training On Knee Valgus Motion And Physical Performance Abilities Among Adole[S]Cent Female Basketball Players, Shauhen Charles Tahrebandi

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The intent of this study was to determine if high school female basketball players participating in a physical training intervention (including a warm-up and plyometric, jump, flexibility, and strength training) would decrease valgus motion at the knee joint upon impact of a jump landing task. In addition, another aim of the investigation was to determine if the training routine would enhance physical performance factors associated with specific basketball skills (e.g., vertical jump and agility).

Twenty high school female basketball players, (experimental group n = 8, mean = 14.2 yrs; control group n = 12, mean = 14.3 yrs) were recruited …

Characterization Of A Black Coating Overlying Rock Paintings Found In Little Lost River Cave, Idaho Using Thm-Gc-Ms, Jamie Brown-Sinha

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

A black coating overlies rock paintings found within Little Lost Rive Cave, Idaho. A calibrated radiocarbon date of 1390-1040 B.C. was obtained by Steelman et al.1 However, this relies on the assumption that the black coating was formed by some human activity. For further characterization and to verify that the coating is anthropogenic, THM-GC-MS was performed on various samples collected throughout the cave, including soil samples from inside, outside, and above the cave. Humic and fulvic acids, synthetic and natural melanin, and experimentally created cooking residues were also analyzed as standard materials. By comparing the resulting chromatograms and the compounds …

Adaptive Power Control Protocol With Hardware Implementation For Wireless Sensor And Rfid Reader Networks, Kainan Cha, Jagannathan Sarangapani, David Pommerenke

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The development and deployment of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems render a novel distributed sensor network which enhances visibility into manufacturing processes. In RFID systems, the detection range and read rates will suffer from interference among high-power reading devices. This problem grows severely and degrades system performance in dense RFID networks. Consequently, medium access protocols (MAC) protocols are needed for such networks to assess and provide access to the channel so that tags can be read accurately. In this paper, we investigate a suite of feasible power control schemes to ensure overall coverage area of the system while maintaining a …

An Online Approximator-Based Fault Detection Framework For Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems, Balaje T. Thumati, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a fault detection scheme is developed for nonlinear discrete time systems. The changes in the system dynamics due to incipient failures are modeled as a nonlinear function of state and input variables while the time profile of the failures is assumed to be exponentially developing. The fault is detected by monitoring the system and is approximated by using online approximators. A stable adaptation law in discrete-time is developed in order to characterize the faults. The robustness of the diagnosis scheme is shown by extensive mathematical analysis and simulation results.

Asymptotic Stability Of Nonholonomic Mobile Robot Formations Using Multilayer Neural Networks, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Travis Alan Dierks

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a combined kinematic/torque control law is developed for leader-follower based formation control using backstepping in order to accommodate the dynamics of the robots and the formation in contrast with kinematic-based formation controllers that are widely reported in the literature. A multilayer neural network (NN) is introduced along with robust integral of the sign of the error (RISE) feedback to approximate the dynamics of the follower as well as its leader using online weight tuning. It is shown using Lyapunov theory that the errors for the entire formation are asymptotically stable and the NN weights are bounded as …

Market Fragmenting Regulation - Why Gasoline Costs So Much (And Why It's Going To Cost More), Andrew P. Morriss, Nathaniel Stewart

Faculty Scholarship

Virtually everyone holds an opinion on what is wrong with gasoline markets. Some critics argue that gasoline costs too much, fattening greedy oil barons at the expense of consumers. Some link reducing oil producers' profits to stopping terrorism. Others contend that gasoline costs too little, subsidizing suburban sprawl and gas-guzzling SUVs at the expense of the environment. Web sites track gasoline prices and grocery stores sell low-cost fuel to lure shoppers. Policy makers debate whether gas taxes should be cut to lower the cost of living; need to be increased to make drivers pay the full cost of their behavior; …

Herbal Medications: Implications For The Operating Room, Tricia Marcuson

Theses and Dissertations

US households have an increasing number of people using herbal medications as common self treatments. According to Hodges & Kam (2002), 32-37% of Americans have used herbal medications in the last year. Schmidt (2004) states that 1 in 3 Americans consume herbal products each year. Between 1990 and 1997, the use of herbal medicines increased 380% (Ernst, 2004). The interactions between herbal medications and anesthetic drugs become more important and meaningful due to the wide spread use. There are currently 15 million adults in the United States at risk for a potential adverse interaction with a prescription medication and an …

Mobile Speed Estimation For Broadband Wireless Communications, Y. Rosa Zheng, Chengshan Xiao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a new algorithm is proposed to estimate mobile speed for broadband wireless communications, which often encounter large number of fading channel taps causing severe intersymbol interference. Theoretical analysis is first derived and practical algorithm is proposed based on the analytical results. The algorithm employs a modified auto-covariance of received signal power to estimate the speed of mobiles. The algorithm is based on the received signals which contain unknown transmitted data, unknown frequency selective multipaths possibly including line-of-sight (LOS) component, and random receiver noise. The algorithm works well for frequency selective Rayleigh and Rician channels. The algorithm is …

Neural Network Controller Development And Implementation For Spark Ignition Engines With High Egr Levels, Jonathan B. Vance, Atmika Singh, Brian C. Kaul, Jagannathan Sarangapani, J. A. Drallmeier

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Past research has shown substantial reductions in the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) concentrations by using 10% -25% exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) in spark ignition (SI) engines (see Dudek and Sain, 1989). However, under high EGR levels, the engine exhibits strong cyclic dispersion in heat release which may lead to instability and unsatisfactory performance preventing commercial engines to operate with high EGR levels. A neural network (NN)-based output feedback controller is developed to reduce cyclic variation in the heat release under high levels of EGR even when the engine dynamics are unknown by using fuel as the control input. A separate …

On The Error Performance Of Wireless Systems With Frequency Selective Fading And Receiver Timing Phase Offset, Jingxian Wu, Y. Rosa Zheng, Khaled Ben Letaief, Chengshan Xiao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Optimal Diversity Combining Based On Linear Estimation Of Rician Fading Channels, Jingxian Wu, Chengshan Xiao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Optimal receiver diversity combining employing linear channel estimation is examined. Based on the statistical properties of pilot-assisted least-squares (LS) and minimum mean square error (MMSE) channel estimation, an optimal diversity receiver for wireless systems employing practical linear channel estimation on Rician fading channels is proposed. Exact analytical expressions for the symbol error rates of LS and MMSE channel estimation aided optimal diversity combining are derived. It is shown that an MPSK wireless system with MMSE channel estimation has the same SER when the MMSE channel estimation is replaced by LS estimation. This is an interesting counter-example to the common perception …

Performance Analysis Of Wireless Systems With Doubly Selective Rayleigh Fading, Jingxian Wu, Chengshan Xiao

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Theoretical error performances of wireless communication systems suffering from both doubly selective (time varying and frequency selective) Rayleigh fading and sampler timing offset are analyzed in this paper. Single-input-single-output systems with doubly selective fading channels are equivalently represented as discrete-time single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) systems with correlated frequency-flat fading channels, with the correlation information being determined by the combined effects of sampler timing phase, maximum Doppler spread, and power delay profile of the physical fading. Based on the equivalent SIMO system representation, closed-form error-probability expressions are derived as tight lower bounds for linearly modulated systems with fractionally spaced equalizers. The information on …

Route Aware Predictive Congestion Control Protocol For Wireless Sensor Networks, Carl Larsen, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Congestion in wireless sensor networks (WSN) may lead to packet losses or delayed delivery of important information rendering the WSN-based monitoring or control system useless. In this paper a routing-aware predictive congestion control (RPCC) yet decentralized scheme for WSN is presented that uses a combination of a hop by hop congestion control mechanism to maintain desired level of buffer occupancy, and a dynamic routing scheme that works in concert with the congestion control mechanism to forward the packets through less congested nodes. The proposed adaptive approach restricts the incoming traffic thus preventing buffer overflow while maintaining the rate through an …

Exploration Of Computational Methods For Classification Of Movement Intention During Human Voluntary Movement From Single Trial Eeg, Ou Bai, Peter Lin, Sherry Vorbach, Jiang Li, Steve Furlani, Mark Hallett

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Objective: To explore effective combinations of computational methods for the prediction of movement intention preceding the production of self-paced right and left hand movements from single trial scalp electroencephalogram (EEG).

Methods: Twelve naïve subjects performed self-paced movements consisting of three key strokes with either hand. EEG was recorded from 128 channels. The exploration was performed offline on single trial EEG data. We proposed that a successful computational procedure for classification would consist of spatial filtering, temporal filtering, feature selection, and pattern classification. A systematic investigation was performed with combinations of spatial filtering using principal component analysis (PCA), independent component analysis …

Health Monitoring Of A Truss Bridge Using Adaptive Identification, James W. Fonda, Steve Eugene Watkins

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Integration of structural analysis, system identification, and sensor networks provide health monitoring capabilities that benefit many aspects of infrastructure management. This work presents an adaptive identification method based on Lyapunov methods for a truss structure. Lyapunov methods in the identification provide guaranteed convergence for the parameter estimation. Identification is carried out on a simulation model based on FEA methods. The FEA model offers realistic results from a truss structure and allows verification of the identification method for a rolling load case. A rolling load scenario provides use of realistic loading of a structure so that identification methods may be extended …

Articulation Trends In Allied Health Programs, Felicia M. Toreno

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The educational environment emphasizes student access to instructional opportunities. Many health programs are located in community colleges or hospitals, and in order to advance educational status, students must be able to transfer credits between multiple educational institutions. Unfortunately, programs are not uniform and many fields of study are guided by strict accreditation regulations. These conflicting requirements often make transfer for students cumbersome. Transfer pathways are often considered by institutions on a program by program basis. This research was designed to analyze the existing pathways present in urban Virginian allied health programs in order to establish trends in articulation. These instructional …

Influence Of Questionnaire Format On The Response Rate Of Training Session Evaluations, Yumiao Zhu

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

To answer this problem, the following research questions were established: What were respondents' concerns when they completed questionnaires after training? What were the participants' preferences regarding format when responding to a training evaluation questionnaire?

Analysis Of Interaction Between A Crystallographically Uniaxial Ferrite Resonator And A Hall-Effect Transducer, Marina Koledintseva, Alexander A. Kitaytsev

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a number of physical phenomena taking place at the interaction of a crystallographically uniaxial ferrite resonator (UFR) with a semiconductor element, such as a Hall-effect transducer (HET), are analyzed. The UFR in this study is in a direct contact with an unpackaged HET. The interaction is studied in the vicinity of the ferromagnetic resonance in the UFR. The analytical model based on the combination of the problem of interaction of an arbitrarily orientated and shaped UFR with electromagnetic field of a multimode transmission line (waveguide) and thermal balance equations is proposed. A number of thermo/electro/magnetic phenomena that …